Never Again

A/N: This is set in Path of Radiance before they cross the Great Bridge.

Story idea was made by Lynnie Kleriker.

Warning: BoyXBoy, lime, implied lemon, crude humor.


"So, while the main part of the army moves across the bridge, a set of four skilled warriors will stay behind. We can almost count on reinforcements behind us, so the small unit will fight them head on. But we can't afford to many, otherwise the fight on the bridge will be shorthanded." Soren explained to the rest of the attending people.

Titania across from him nodded in agreement to Soren's plan while Ike to the left of her smiled in satisfaction. "A sound plan, sir Soren." Elincia said softly, smiling, Soren paid it no mind. She knew nothing of war, so her praise was next to useless.

"Who would be these four warriors, Soren?" Titania questioned, putting her chin onto her hands and fixing the Sage with an aware gaze.

The magic user was about to reply when there was a soft touch on his thigh, he jumped and shivered at the feeling, all the while, his eyes snapped to the two people beside him. Shinon was to his left beside Mia and across from Volke, but the touch had come from the right side of him…And Soren highly doubted Shinon of all people would be feeling him up.

Not with Mia, his new girlfriend, right beside him, and there was also the fact that Shinon hated Soren, and likewise from the mage.

Ruby eyes turned to their right and immediately knew that the man beside him was behind the act; Stefan was looking at him with a completely innocent look, nothing was betrayed, except perhaps the small glint in his eye.

…Soren felt confusion and slowly building anger in the pit of his stomach, why was the idiot hermit . . . Touching him like this? The fingers left their spot trailing down his leg intimately and Soren snapped his eyes back to Titania.

Taking his pause as not knowing who the four warriors would be, the scarlet-haired paladin turned to Ike, "Well, General, any ideas?"

The sage had already figured out who he was keeping in the back, and he sent a heated gaze to the Swordmaster beside him, Stefan just shrugged nonchalantly. Soren wanted to kick the infuriating man, but he had a strategically plan to lay out. The tactician growled under his breath before clearing his throat, "I already have the units in the plan."

Ike looked relieved that Titania turned her gaze away from him, because he honestly didn't want to ruin Soren's plan with ignorance. "Well, then, Soren?" the paladin inquired.

The raven-haired man actually started the list, "Volke, Sothe, and-" he cut off soundlessly, only a slight blush coming to his cheeks, his eyes darted down and glared at the hand running on the top of his thigh this time.

Across from him, Titania gave him a curious glance, Ike's brow was furrowed and . . . Soren was blushing heavier to see that Volke's gaze was somehow knowing. Knowing that they were still awaiting his answer, Soren tried his best to ignore that damn hand, really, he was going to kill Stefan! What the hell was the man thinking?! Despite angering the sage immensely, it also confused him to no end.

"As I was saying," the man's index finger trailed more towards his knee and then towards his inner thigh, "Volke, S-sothe, Mia…!" he bit back a moan, turning it into a cough, "Um." Now everyone was giving him strange looks. But he really was having a hard time paying attention; with Stefan getting closer and closer to well- between his legs- Soren's mind was beginning to fuzz.

He felt another gaze on him and he saw that Shinon had a dark glint to his eyes, a small, barely noticeable smirk turned up his lips. Immediately Soren feared for his outward complexion in the meeting tent, he bit his lip and tried to ignore the hand slowly gliding around his manhood teasingly. Stefan, the bastard, had that smirk that was always on his face, so no one noticed anything off about him!

Soren took a small, shuddering - since Stefan took that precise moment to just barely stroke his slowly awakening length- breath, before he tried speaking again, "Volke, Sothe, Mia, and Shinon. Volke, Sothe, and Mia have proven to work well together, Shinon should be a smart edition." the mage finished quickly, which proved a good choice since the Swordmaster began to finger hem of his pants right afterwards.

Titania nodded, giving Soren one last odd glance, before turning to Ike, "General, does this all sound to your liking?" the blunette nodded quickly, "Alright, Soren, what should the main group consist of?"

The tactician glanced up from the spot on the table he had been staring at in forced concentration, "Heavy armour is the best choice, seeing as-" his voice pitched up when Stefan's hand slipped into his pants, "ballistae."

Now everyone was worried, "Seeing as ballistae?" Titania narrowed her eyes at him, "So…" she cleared her throat, "So, armored units because there will be ballistae. Alright, I suppose this would mean very few mages and healers."

"Yes."

"But we do need some healers," Ike put in, "So maybe a stronger unit could take the hits for the healer?" he shrugged.

"That could work…" Titania murmured, "Soren is one of our more powerful healers now that he can use a staff, seeing as he'll not be fighting much, it'll be a good choice…Right Soren?"

"Mm." that hand was . . . He couldn't think, not when Stefan's fingers slowly wrapped around his length and did a soft, testing, pulling motion. Soren narrowed his eye in focus, trying to look at Titania with a straight face, "Yes."

Her curious gaze had turned to worried, the sage was getting uncertain that he could negate this disaster. "Please excuse me." she blinked at his apology and thankfully let it drop.

Volke spoke up, making several people jump in shock, "Perhaps Stefan could guard Soren?" the sage choked, if it weren't for that mask, the assassin would probably be seen smirking.

"Not a bad idea." Titania nodded, giving a suspicious glance to her right, she never had trusted Volke. Soren wanted to bark out, 'No that isn't a good idea, he won't be alive by the next morning!" he gritted his teeth at the slowly moving hand in his pants, 'I can assure you that."

"Soren, this is your strategy, so could you elaborate more on how you would like this to be pulled off?"

The sage wanted to groan, for more than one reason, "Paladins w-will be needed to take out the ballistae, generals should guard the sword masters…" he spat out the last word with venom, "A-and!" he cut off and lowered his head slightly, squinting his eyes and blushing heavily.

Titania blinked, "Soren?"

"I'm fine!" he cut her off in a harsh tone, and she would have let it drop.

"Gee Soren, I don't know, you look a bit warm." Shinon's voice filled the tent, and apparently only Soren could pick out the mockery in his voice. On second thought, Volke's eyes seemed to get slightly smaller, as if he was smirking, and Stefan's hand jerked the tiniest bit faster. Of course he was still going slowly. The mage didn't know if he was thankful for that or pissed off.

"Haa…Ah… I'm really okay."

The scarlet-haired paladin frowned, "Soren, I'm getting worried about you…" her voice was gentle and laced with that annoying concern.

"Yes, maybe you're coming down with something?" Shinon's voice was also gentle, but instead of truly concerned, there was an undertone that spoke of his enjoyment of Soren's predicament. Soren was going to kill him. Right after he tortured Stefan to death, of course.

By now, Mia had began to notice that something deeper was going on, seeing as she noticed Shinon's tone change. However, to Soren's relief, she said nothing, neither helping him or worsening his situation. Which was perfectly fine at this stage.

"Since when do you even care, Shinon?" Soren asked coldly, but his intimidating tone was somewhat lessened by Shinon being able to see Stefan's actions, and the noticeable flush on his cheeks. Not to mention his arousal was obvious.

Damn it, Soren had never experienced anything like this, how was he supposed to help it!?

And Stefan, his face betrayed nothing, damn the bastard! Just damn it! Soren had a steadily increasing urge to kill something. But right along with that was the insuppressible desire, triggered by the bastard's hands wrapped around his cock. The mixture of the two was creating a thing called violent lust, which would probably result in something entirely illogical.

For Soren, that was a horrible, horrible thing.

"Hmph, you should be more grateful, whelp, I'm trying to be nice for once." his voice apparently was very convincing to Titania, an amazing feat, and it made Soren all the more angry.

She gave him a disapproving glance, amazingly still mixed with concern, "Soren, Shinon's kindness is a rare thing, so please do not discourage it."

Shinon smirked down at Soren, the sage was about to glare back when Stefan's fingers gave a rough squeeze; what was going to be a nasty retort to Shinon almost melted into a pleasured scream, which he made an impressively convincing hacking cough.

"Soren?" Ike asked worriedly, he stared at his best friend with nervous azure eyes.

The sage was about to reassure him when Stefan ran a nail lightly along the bottom of his length, "Ngh!" he groaned out.

Shinon suppressed a grin then, "Titania, look at him, he's burning up. I'm no priest, but I have to say, he should probably go see a healer."

The red haired paladin nodded, her mind made up, "Soren, really, stop trying to hide your illness, go see Mist or Rhys!"

Shinon made a motion as if to say stop, "Wait, wait…Since when does Soren get sick," said sage did not like the sound of this, but he didn't give it much thought when another hand dexterously touched his side sensually. What the hell? He looked down at Stefan's lower body, just in time to see his right arm sliding back to it's natural position.

"I mean, Soren is always in top health when it comes to sickness. This is a new experience for him! He should have an escort, how about you, Stefan?" Shinon enquired the Swordmaster sitting two seats down from him.

The Swordmaster looked up at the sniper before glancing over at Ike across from him, "Do you mind, General Ike?"

"Of course not, Stefan, I'd be happy if you helped out Soren." the Lord said quickly, "He almost never gets sick so it wouldn't be good if he collapsed on the way to a healer."

Stefan nodded, "Right then." his hand stopped its up and down motion on Soren's manhood and the sage couldn't stop the disappointed sigh of loss. After slipping his hand out of the magic-users pants and robe, the sword fighter stood up, unfazed, offering Soren a hand up. The sage simply gave the offered appendage a savage glare before standing up slowly by himself.

He was most unhappy to notice that everyone was looking at him, making him being able to hide his current problem much tougher than it had to be. He sent the onlookers a malice-drenched glare, making even Volke and Shinon look away in slight fear.

Soren followed the Swordmaster out of the tent reluctantly, once accomplished he shoved on Stefan with all his might in fury. His six feet tall frame was barely moved, much to Soren's irritation. The Swordmaster glanced back with amused, violet eyes. But within those depths was also a look the anti-social tactician wasn't familiar with.

Stefan gave a small smile, not his usual smirk, but an actual smile. Soren's eyes widened at the new expression, his anger and lust dimmed slightly. However it was only temporary.

"What in Ashera's name was that for you - you …!?" he didn't even finish the hissed demand before Stefan had taken his arm and pulled him a little ways away from the meeting tent, "What are you-" he was cut off again.

But this time by Stefan's lips, Soren gasped at the foreign contact, his legs got weaker and he grabbed onto the man's broad shoulders to assure his ability to stay standing. Soren wanted to protest, but with a skilled tongue slipping into his mouth and large hands running along his body, every words planned died on his occupied tongue.

The sage's cheeks burned, and his hands gripped tighter to Stefan's shoulders, his small moan was lost to everything except the man kissing him. Soren's ruby eyes remained closed, he hadn't even known when he had shut them. The hands roaming on his body stayed busy, running along his hips and back, stopping only when they had explored his entire upper body.

Soren pulled away forcibly from Stefan, gasping for much needed air, staring at the ground in complete confusion. Was this why the man always bothered him about his life and future? Did he really care this much? Soren couldn't wrap his mind around the concept of Stefan liking him this much…

The sage jumped when he felt a hand go under his chin and raise it up; he blinked at the look in Stefan's eyes, but didn't have time to wonder about it when he was brought in for another kiss. Soren blinked at the softness of this one before letting his eyes completely close again. Stefan wrapped his arms around the sage, reveling in the lack of resistance that Soren was giving.

After a moment, he pulled the smaller man's body closer. He was pleasantly surprised to feel that Soren was still aroused, was that a sign? At all?

Stefan removed an arm from it's place around Soren's small waist, instead he moved it in between their bodies. The magic-user gasped at the hand massaging him through the thin cloth of his robe, and his already diminishing anger was forgotten. For now.

The Sword master lowered them both to the ground and moved his mouth to Soren's ear, "Well?"

"Just…Don't stop."

It didn't even matter that Soren was supposed to be killing Stefan at the moment, or that they were in the middle of the camp, or that the meeting could be finished at any moment. He did not want this to end, why? He couldn't even begin to ponder the answer to that.

Soren cried out into Stefan's kiss, eyes closed in bliss, hands clutching onto the other man's arms for something to keep a hold on. A moment later, the sword fighter collapsed on top of him, breathing pretty evenly for what had just happened. However, hidden from Soren, was a look of absolute content.

As he slowly came down from bliss, Soren sighed in barely noticeable irritation.

While he couldn't kill Stefan anymore…He most definitely was never- and he meant never- again going to allow Stefan to sit next to him in any public place.


A/N: And there is my second limey-lemonish story! Please tell me your thoughts, were they vaguely in character, was the lime okay? Was it actually humorous? The story is unbetaed so any mistakes belong to me!

Thanks to Lynnie Kleriker for the idea!